Introduction
Orion is Aurora’s long-endurance, Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) capable of providing extreme persistence for military applications, such as ISR and communication relay. Orion was competitively selected by the US Air Force for the Medium Altitude Global ISR and Communication (MAGIC) Joint Capability Technology Demonstration (JCTD). The MAGIC JCTD was sponsored by the US Central Command (CENTCOM) to meet its demand for persistent ISR. In the JCTD ranking process, five Combatant Commands ranked Orion as their number one priority.

Orion provides:

Affordable Persistence; Orion is able to fly for 5 days with 1,000 lbs payload at 20,000 feet in altitude.

Long Endurance; Orion’s long endurance delivers the range to support CONOPS from remote bases, Orion provides over 3 days on station from bases 2,000 miles from the mission.

Strike Capability; Orion has the potential to provide strike capability for the warfighter with the ability to carry over 1,000 lbs per wing hardpoint.

In August 2010, Aurora announced that its Orion UAV would start flight tests before the end of 2010; the Orion would offer “extreme persistence”. Orion was selected by the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory in 2010 to meet the objectives of the Medium Altitude Global ISR and Communications (MAGIC) Joint Capability Technology Demonstration (JCTD).